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Jabber
Jabber
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Author: Marcus Youssef Foreword by: Dennis Foon Publisher: Talonbooks Format: Softcover # of Pages: 96 Pub. Date: 2015 ISBN-10: 0889229503 ISBN-13: 9780889229501
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About the Play:
Best New Text, Montreal English Language Theatre Awards 2013
Chosen in the top 30 Plays in 2013 in Toronto, Stageworthy,
Toronto
Jabber is a full-length drama by Marcus Youssef.
High school, like no other social space, throws together people of
all histories and backgrounds, and young people must decide what they
believe in and how far they are willing to go to defend their
beliefs. Inside a veritable pressure cooker, they negotiate
cross-cultural respect and mutual understanding. Jabber does
its part to challenge appearances – and the judgements people make
based on those appearances.
Like many outgoing young women, Fatima feels rebellious against
parents she sees as strict. It just so happens that she is
Egyptian-born and wears a hijab. When anti-Muslim graffiti appears on
the walls of her school, Fatima transfers to a new school. The
guidance counsellor there, Mr. E., does his best to help Fatima fit
in, but despite his advice she starts an unlikely friendship with
Jorah, who has a reputation for anger issues. Maybe, just maybe,
Fatima and Jorah start to, like, like each other ... As their mutual attraction grows, the lines Fatima and Jorah cross
as they grow closer become the subject of an intense exploration of
boundaries – personal boundaries, cultural boundaries, and inherited
religious and political boundaries. Fatima and Jorah discover that
appearances matter; they've been exposed for their whole to images
that begin to colour their relationship: images of the Middle East,
the working class, and how teenage boys and teenage girls behave. Put
all these reactive factors together in the social laboratory that is
a high school and observe: is there a solution for Fatima and Jorah?
Jabber was commissioned by Geordie Theatre in Montreal in
2011, and premiered on tour through Quebec and Atlantic Canada in
2012/13, and at Young People's Theatre in Toronto the following
season.
Cast: 1 woman, 2 men
What people say:
"Smartly probes the lives of
high schoolers struggling with peer expectations and identity
problems. As they attempt to navigate the minefield that is the high
school hallway, they are warned repeatedly that actions have
consequences." — Winnipeg Free Press
"Not afraid to deal with
difficult subject matter such as discrimination, domestic abuse,
sexuality, and the danger of online sharing on social media."
— Charlebois Post Review
About the Playwright:
Marcus Youssef is a Canadian playwright, artistic director,
and author. Born in Montreal to Egyptian parents, he has often made
diversity and the ideas of difference and diversity themes in his
work, some of which were co-written with friends and colleagues. His
works have been performed at theatres and festivals (and school gyms)
across Canada, the US, Australia and Europe. He was named the 2017
recipient of the Siminovitch Prize, Canada's most prestigious prize
in Theatre. He currently lives in Vancouver British Columbia, where
he continues his work with community-based advocacy programs that use
writing and/or theatre as tools for effecting political and social
change.
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